Retirees slam water plans

Friday

Sep 7, 2007 at 12:01 AM

BY CHRISTOPHER CURRYSTAR-BANNER

OCALA - Retirees Burt Sugarman and Jack Benstock say you shouldn't be fooled by the name of the subdivision where they live. Del Webb's Spruce Creek Golf and Country Club "is not really a country club" where wealthy tycoons reside. Instead, it's a place where Northerners can come retire at a cheaper cost of living than in Florida's coastal communities.
Some residents, including Sugarman and Benstock, have organized in opposition to the proposed change in rates for the county's water and sewer customers, which is scheduled for a County Commission vote on Sept. 18.
"It's no longer an affordable county," Sugarman said to commissioners last Thursday.
The new rate system, prepared by consultant Burton & Associates, would even out the rates charged to Marion County Utilities' water and sewer customers, which now vary depending on where they live and which private utility company is used to serve the area.
To encourage water conservation, it would also establish a tiered rate structure, charging more per 1,000 gallons as water use rises.
That would bring a double whammy to residents of Stonecrest, Del Webb's Spruce Creek Golf and Country Club, Spruce Creek Preserve and Spruce Creek South. Their water rates currently are 26 to 28 percent below the county's average, but their usage, primarily from watering lawns, is much higher. In the Spruce Creek communities, for example, the average household uses 18,000 gallons of water per month, while the average county customer uses 9,000, according to the utilities' department.
Effective Oct. 1, their bills could jump by 41 percent, or about $24.50 a month, under the new rate structure. That did not sit well with Sugarman, Benstock and many of the approximately 85 retirement community residents who attended the County Commission's discussion of the rates. Sugarman described the increase as "immense."
Marion Utilities Director Andy Neff said the county needs more revenue from rates to qualify for a state loan program to fund part of a $100 million, five-year construction plan, which includes expansion or replacement of some existing wastewater treatment plants the county purchased from private companies, including Florida Water Services. Neff also said more employees are needed for maintenance programs, such as fire-hydrant inspections and meter replacements.
"We'd like to do nothing and have no increase," County Commission Chairman Stan McClain said. "Politically, that would be the easy thing to do. But this is a business and we have to run it."
Benstock, however, argued that the utilities department wastes money and is overstaffed. He said three trucks once showed up at his house to check if the meter worked.
"We're being overcharged because they're not watching their dollars," he said.
Folks in Marion Oaks might disagree. Under the proposed rate change, the average household there, which uses 7,000 gallons a month, would see an $11.80 decrease each bill.
Spruce Creek resident Larry Oxley said if the county switches to a tiered rate, meters need to be read on a regular 30-day schedule so residents don't get pushed into a higher usage category. Commissioners acknowledged that has been a problem in the past.
The new rate system has some history behind it.
The county has built its water and sewer system by purchasing plants and systems from private companies over the years, leading to varying rates charged in different communities.
When the County Commission purchased the Florida Water Services utility system serving Stonecrest and the Spruce Creek communities in 2003, the county included a condition that rates in those communities would be the same as those for the rest of the county customers by Oct. 1, 2007.
The tiered system was a requirement in a consent order the St. Johns River Water Management District placed on the county in June because water use in Spruce Creek golf and Country Club was 300 percent above the district's target level in 2006.
Contact Christopher Curry at 867-4115 or chris.curry@starbanner.com.